Give2Asia Giving Forum

New York Times Reports on Efforts to Empower Unwed Korean Mothers

An article yesterday in The New York Times has brought attention to the plight of unwed mothers in Korea, and efforts to remove the stigma of being a single mother -- a stigma that causes many women to seek abortions or to give up children for adoption through domestic or international agencies.

Dr. Richard Boas is featured as an international proponent for this cause. Himself a parent of a now-adult daughter who was adopted from Korea, Boas is a client of Give2Asia. People can support local organizations in Korea helping to address this issue by giving to the Korean Unwed Mothers Campaign at Give2Asia. Click here to support unwed mothers in Korea.

Click here to read the article in The New York Times.

Asia-based Community Foundations Expanding Their Reach

By Dien Yuen, Give2Asia

Community foundations are well known in the U.S. for raising charitable funds from the community and distributing the money back to the area's non-profit organizations. In the U.S., we have approximately 780 community foundations. Globally, there are 1,441 community foundations in 51 countries.  In Asia, community foundations exist in India, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand and the Philippines.

 

Community foundations exist in various forms but they are basically a charitable entity used to encourage philanthropy and build communities of giving and sharing.  The first community foundation was formed in the U.S. and since then the concept has been exported around the world.  In 2006, The Global Fund for Community Foundations was formed.  It is a joint initiative of the World Bank, Ford Foundation and Mott Foundation as a mechanism to broad the development of community foundations.  The Fund is a project of WINGS and it is hosted by the European Foundation Centre in Brussels.  Since their launch, the Fund has made grants amounting to almost US $1.5 million to 83 organizations in 33 countries.

 

The 2008 Community Foundation Global Status Report published by WINGS (Worldwide Initiatives for Grantmaker Support) tracks the growth of community foundations globally.  In reviewing the Global Status Report, I noticed several similarities of the community foundations in Asia. For example, outside organizations such as the Ford Foundation and Synergos Institute were instrumental in helping establish many of these community foundation.  Individuals and corporations do not always fully understand the value of an intermediary to promote, encourage and bring together philanthropic initiatives. In other words, they preferred to give directly to the beneficiary. Furthermore, most of these community foundations are relatively new, with the oldest one registered in 1991. Consequently, their grantmaking is relatively small but several do have endowments.  

India

The first community foundation in India, the Bombay Community Public Trust, which was established in 1991 with the assistance of the Centre for Advancement of Philanthropy based in Mumbai.  There are currently six formally established community foundations in India.  Corporate donors are the largest source of income.

Donor Visits with Korean Groups that Help Single Mothers

By Ellen Furnari, Give2Asia

With the help of The Asia Foundation, Give2Asia recently connected a highly motivated donor to excellent organizations making a important difference for women and children in Korea.

Last week I spent several days in Seoul, Korea with our client, Dr. Richard Boas, who adopted a baby from Korea 20 years ago and upon retirement became very active in international adoptions. This work led him to Korea last year, where he had a series of transformative experiences. He now is focused on supporting efforts to ensure that single mothers and unmarried mothers in Korea receive sufficient economic and social support that raising their own children is not an almost impossible task.

The need is huge. Only a small percentage of eligible single parents receive any support from the government. Although a growing issue, most Koreans are unaware of the needs of single mothers.  Koreans we met with were very moved to experience the caring and passion of an American man from so far away, yet so motivated by care and concern for the rights of Korean families, Korean women and children.  It has been a moving experience. So far Dr. Boas has committed to contributing $80,000 to custom programs. I suspect this is just the beginning for this extraordinary donor.

We visited with a number of organization that are either single mother support networks, service providers to unmarried mothers or women's advocacy organizations. While not taking the lead in the research for this custom program, The Asia Foundation staff in Korea have been extremely helpful.

During our visit Dr. Boas was interviewed by TV and print media journalists. Articles about his work were run in several newspapers and more are on the way including a TV spot to be shown this week.  Here is the link to one of the articles on Dr. Boas' work and Give2Asia. This is the only one so far in English.